Popovich said a merger of the two universities -- which already share joint programs in Broward County -- would take as much as five years. Meantime, progress in improving academic programs could be overshadowed by administrative restructuring, Popovich said.

The Legislature, in the 1985 session that ended May 31, ordered a study of the merger idea by a state planning group known as the Postsecondary Education Planning Commission, or PEPC.

The group will begin to study the proposal -- viewed as politically explosive by many legislators -- next month, said Tom Furlong, executive director of PEPC.

Popovich met with about 150 FAU employees Monday at FAU's main campus in Boca Raton to brief the workers on the outcome of the legislative session. She said she could not recall another public forum where she had come out against the proposal.

"It seems to me that combining the two institutions would create an entity that would be very difficult to manage," Popovich told the group. "The two institutions are just beginning to emerge as distinct, and I think that distinction should be enouraged."

FAU's programs are beginning to center on engineering and science-related subjects, while FIU is geared more toward international relations, economics, health and hospitality management.

However, both universities share joint programs at several Broward County locations and next spring plan to open a nine-story joint center now under construction on East Las Olas Boulevard in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Legislators including Sen. Ken Jenne, D-Hollywood, a legislative advocate of better universities in southeast Florida, have called for a study of a merger as a possible efficiency measure.

"We can take the position of understanding why people would want to look at that. We've got friends and enemies who think it would be a good idea," Popovich said.

"As we go into this nine-month study period, we should do it with the sense that each of the institutions is distinct," Popovich said. "They each can move ahead and acquire distinction in their programs and they can cooperate to serve the entire area (Palm Beach, Broward and Dade counties.)"

The merger idea gained acceptance in the legislative session as lawmakers contemplated the way to best create a "comprehensive university presence" in Palm Beach, Broward and Dade counties. A bill ordering the merger was killed in favor of the study by PEPC, a group of citizens independent of the State University System.

Furlong said he believes his group will have free rein and that the study is not necessarily an indication the merger will occur.

"I think in this case it is honestly (legislators') feeling that there was a proposal and that I think they wanted to get more information," Furlong said.